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Galaxy
Oftentimes just referred to The Galaxy by its inhabitants, the Milky Way galaxy is the second largest in its 'neighborhood' of galaxies and only one of billions in the greater universe. It is the main setting for much of known history, but the other two large galaxies of Andromeda and Triangulum occasionally leak tidbits of information back and forth due to accidents involving Wormhole Cycles. No sustained contact has ever taken place between the three galaxies, but oftentimes its the messengers themselves which have the biggest influence. The spiral disk-shaped galaxy is just under 13 billion years old and spans across 100,000 light years at its diameter. Within its band is an enormous conglomeration of 400 billion stars. About half of this number had habitable planets, 1/10 of that number developed life, with intelligent life evolving in 1/1000 of those cases. At least half of that number at some point becomes sufficiently advanced to be a starfaring civilization, while the remainder are either eliminated by cosmic events or destroy themselves outright. If one believes the math, then 10 million starfaring civilizations will emerge or have emerged in the Milky Way, however less than ~50,000 have been documented by modern galactic civilization. Names The galaxy goes by many names by the cultures that reside in it. *Humans - The English name of the 'Milky Way' is the most ubiquitous name for the galaxy, called so because of its supposed resemblance to spilled milk (this is also the origin of the word 'galaxy' in general). The Chinese name, 银河 (Yínhé, silver river) is sometimes used too. *Desan - In Anquanti, the galaxy was called 'Cuiselan Daolu' or 'the Ashen Path'. The Desan believed in ancient times that the galaxy was the product of the ash clouds of an active Olympus Mons ascending ever more into the sky. Civilization Due to the slowness of communications and thus commerce and military power, the Milky Way, as is the case with its galactic neighbors, would not be home to a single galactic civilization. Rather, it has been home to countless thousands of distinct, independent cultures, and it would be ignorant, perhaps even offensive, to group them together as a single unit. That being said, civilizations do impact and influence one another, and one example in particular of this can be seen with the Ancient Martian Empire. Theirs was the first that had the potential to create a singular 'galactic civilization', for in its vast empire lived multiple assimilated species (unheard of before or since). Due to the vastness of the empire, and perhaps their own self-entitlement, the Martians devised the Stellar Cartography which is used to describe the galaxy, and their methods are still in use by the surviving Classical civilizations such as the Ishamshuk Empire. Stellar Cartography Everyone devised a different system of cartography or adapted the systems of another. Today there are around half a dozen prominent representations of the galaxy and its astral territory. T-and-O System This was the system put in place by the Martians, and largely reflects their knowledge of the galaxy and the astropolitical climate that they lived with. Today it remains in use by various civilizations of the Classical Era, including most notably the Ishamshuk Empire. The main body of the galaxy is represented by the 'O' shape, At the center of the galaxy, which the Martians posited at Madapar, they drew the top of the 'T' shape which cut into the body of the galaxy, which in turn divided the galaxy into three parts, one of which was as large as the other two taken together. The two smaller sections were so-called 'Upper Empire' and 'Lower Empire', which worked in those days (as the empire did span across those regions) with the larger, more distant section being referred to as 'Stars of Baoxu' (after the Baoxu Expedition). With the collapse of the empire, the civilizations which kept the system have reworked these aspects of it. In modern times the two smaller sections are simply 'Upper Galaxy' and 'Lower Galaxy', given the collective term of 'Central Galaxy' with the remainder keeping the name given to them by Baoxu. Galactic Zones System The three zones' system is that used by humans and servans. It divides the galaxy into units of volume that ascend into larger and larger units, starting at the individual cubic Parsec level, which can contain as many as 3 star systems, up through Quadrant, Region, Sector, and finally, Zone. Each 'zone' constitutes a huge 'ring' of space in the galaxy. Starting from the center of the galaxy and reaching out, it goes Galactic Core, Central Zone, and Galactic Edge. The Central Zone is the largest, the same size as the other two put together. Eight Arms System Ten Bubbles System At the opposite side of the galaxy from Earth, Mars, or Ichtalu, there arose a great civilization which divided the galaxy into 6 'bubbles' of expansion, with the remaining 4 'bubbles' being space which they did not control (and were much larger than the first six). This system is more influential in this area of the galaxy, receiving the same sort of elevated status as the T-and-O does in more familiar territory. Pie Galaxy System From the nucleus of the galaxy were cut several equally-sized 'pieces' of the galaxy. Four Quadrants System Ordinal Directions The concepts of north, south, east, and west do not apply to the galaxy so well and to avoid confusion are generally limited to local usage on a planetary level. Instead, the vaguely equivalent concepts of 'Coreward' (going closer to the galactic core), 'Spinward' (going in the same direction as the galaxy's spin) 'Counter-Spinward' (the opposite) and 'Edgeward' (going closer to the edge of the galactic disk). Government and politics No one civilization has ever controlled the entire volume of the galaxy, in fact - none have ever come close. The largest empire in galactic history was that of the Martians, which reached a peak of 18,000 cubic light years, or a little under a fifth of the galaxy. There were many other significant powers in the galaxy however. *The very first civilization to be recorded in galactic history was that of the Ancient Madapari. They are remembered by the name given to them in the Desanti language, madapari, which translates to wayfarers. Their wisdom was said to be without compare - they encouraged anti-imperialist philosophy and invested in the prosperity and development of their neighbors. It is because of the Madapari that those distantly ancient times of galactic history are remembered as being relatively harmonious and peaceful. Despite Madapari teachings, however, conflicts inevitably arose, and the Madapari have since withdrawn into hiding. It is speculated by some that they are still alive, and if so, would be the only civilization to survive from the ancient era into the present day other than the Proga. The planet of Madapar is still very important politically, and is often used as the 'center' of the galaxy on maps.